The Egyptians spent 25-30 years building a single pyramid. This doesn’t mean they slacked off by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, according to most historians, they averaged about 81 blocks per day. Each of these blocks could be as large as 1.5 meters wide, 1.5 meters high, and 2.25 meters deep. To put into place 81 of these per day would be a tough job even today with all the equipment and modern technology we possess. This is an impressive display of a people coming together working efficiently on a project without rushing it. Who knows if we would even know that there were pyramids built in that era had they Egyptians made a rush job out of it.

Seth Godin wrote a post on a similar idea not too long ago entitled What does ‘pro-business’ mean?. It’s a decent sized article but if you have some time I recommend it especially for business owners.

So the next time you feel pressured by a client to do a rush job, make sure they are fully aware of the implications it may have on their project. In some cases, they may opt to have the project go over a couple days to ensure they get the product they were expecting. Think about this in terms of your own projects as well and see if it makes a difference in how you view your work. Do you feel better when you know you’ve spent some time to produce something of high quality?

The post Time is Quality first appeared on Joe Mangum.

Colin asked a generalized question to his audience, “how late is too late to show up to a meeting or important event?” I, along with Colin, was shocked to hear some of the answers that came in. Some said 5 minutes, some said 2 minutes, and others even said 15-30 minutes.

The fact of the matter is, if you’re late… YOU’RE LATE!! It doesn’t matter if you’re 1 second or 1 hour, if you show up past the time when you had agreed to be somewhere you’re late. By being on time you show respect for other’s time and, in contrast, when you are late to a meeting you are basically telling the other person that your time is more important than theirs. This is a good way to lose friends, clients, and reputation.

When I was a kid, I was terrified of being late. On days there was a wrestling tournament, I would wake up at 2AM to make sure I was early to school because my coach would say, “The bus leaves at 4AM tomorrow. If you’re not on it at 4, don’t plan on coming at all.” I learned discipline and the importance of being on time at a young age because I didn’t want to miss out on opportunities.

As adults, employees, or business owners, it is even more important to recognize and uphold the value of being punctual. Why waist opportunities or give people false impressions about your company by being late without an excuse way prior to the meeting. It gets harder and harder as our lives get more busy each day. I can promise that by practicing and sincerely working to be more punctual you will find more satisfaction in your day and others will recognize your professionalism and want to work with you more. You’ll have more clients, more money, and more friends.

The post Being On Time. How Late is Too Late? first appeared on Joe Mangum.

One of the coolest parts of WordCamp Phoenix (your definition of “cool” may differ depending on your level of nerdiness), was when we launched angry birds into the audience before the opening ceremonies. Check out the link for a video clip of the action.

Sunday offered a chance to wind down and tap into the more spiritual side of the weekend. Two of our friends, Colby Denton and Camille Millecam spoke in their singles ward at the ASU Institute of Religion. What was also special about this meeting was that Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University, was the concluding speaker. Pres. Crow spoke about the importance of Religion in learning and developing the most well rounded and intelligent individuals on earth. He expressed his vision on creating a New American University at ASU by establishing an environment where all learners are welcome and encouraged to excel and succeed in education.

Words of thoughts and encouragement from the weekend that I can leave with you… WordPress is king of CMS, Angry birds make great water balloon launcher ammunition, If you need an impromptu speech to close out a huge event Dallin Harris is your guy, value the importance of education… it’s one of the only things that rise with you after this life and finally, compliment often and sincerely because a little love goes a long  way.

The post WordCamp Phoenix and Michael Crow first appeared on Joe Mangum.

We were all stuck on it the rest of the day. It seemed impossible. My solution to weigh one bag, add another and another and another until you get a different reading didn’t work as it did not follow the guideline of only being able to receive ONE reading from the scale.

I finally gave up this morning (4 days later) and Googled the riddle. I ran into a web post that contained the riddle and the answer. However, to my frustration, the riddle here actually read like this, “You have 10 bags of gold coins, 10 coins per bag, 10 grams per coin, but one bag of coins weigh only 9 grams per coin (because of low quality). How do you find out which bag contains low quality gold coins? You may use a scale only one time.”

So there WAS more information!!!! Dallin was holding out on us (probably not on purpose. His version was most likely the way it was related to him and he still figured it out, but you would expect that from Dallin. The guy’s a genius.)!

It made me think of some clients who ask you to help their business succeed online without providing you with what success in their market actually means. Of course, a ranch land investor is going to have a different conversion rate than an online clothing store. To some point, it is the marketer’s responsibility to research and determine the market benchmarks and trends, but the business owner also needs to take the responsibility of ensuring the marketer knows exactly what he views a successful campaign to be.

So let’s make sure we get the story straight. If we want someone to figure out a problem, we need to provide the tools and means they need to succeed at debunking that particular dilemma.

By the way, here is the solution to the riddle Try to figure it out first though!

The post Missing… first appeared on Joe Mangum.

How Did Apple Do It?

What I did want to talk about is the fact that Apple KNOWS that they’ve made. It’s not because they brought in $3.25 billion in Q3 alone last year. It’s not because they sold over 300K ipads the day it opened on the market. It’s also not because a youtube spoof of Steve Jobs and the made up product the Apple I-Rack has over 5,000,000 views. No, the real reason has nothing to do with any of these.

So what is it? How can you tell when a company has reached market nirvana (dominance)? The reason I know Apple has done it is because no matter who you are, if you have the new Macbook air, the number of different people you’re likely to spark up a conversation with in a given day literally doubles. It’s the same story for those who had an iPhone in 2007. And for those who got an iPad early last year. When you can take a dorky, 119 pound 19 year old with glasses the most popular guy in school in just one day, THAT is when you know you’ve made it.

#imjustsayin

The post When You Know You’ve Made It first appeared on Joe Mangum.

So, we’re in the process of hiring employees for our business to help lighten some of the heavy workload and we’ve had, it seems like, hundreds of discussions on how the process should work, what type of person would be the right fit, what attributes are we looking for, and how will we manage them once they are on board. One I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how to manage new employees. I’ve wondered how I would teach them our processes, help inspire them to do good work, and how to let them know, in a positive way, when they’ve done something wrong or not the way we need it to be done.

On Christmas day, My sister-in-law got a backpack for Christmas. This was something that she wanted, however, you could tell immediately that she didn’t like something about it. Usually, at Christmas, a gracious recipient would say something like, “oh I love it, thank you so much.” Even though deep inside they absolutely hate it and want to exchange it for a different color. Well, Tessa doesn’t roll that way. She feels too bad about lying that, when asked if she liked it, she said… almost crying, “I… don’t like it. I’m sorry.”

I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. Then I thought about it. She was just being honest. She new what she wanted and THAT wasn’t it. It’s easy enough to exchange the backpack for the one she really wanted. By lying, she has to live with something she never wanted and it will be painful everyday she has to leave for school. Since she was honest, she only endures a few moments of awkward silence on Christmas morning, and the next day she gets to exchange it for what she wants.

So what does this have to do with employees and or friends/relationships for that matter. It has everything to do with it because, by being honest, progress is made faster. When an employee does something you don’t like, better to let them know, lovingly and kindly, than to fake like it’s okay and then be upset with them day after day as they continue to do things the wrong way. Then, after letting them know you don’t agree, offer a better alternative without (and this is sometimes the hard part) sounding “stand-offish” or accusing.

A few moments of slight awkwardness is always better than a prolonged period of digression. How do you deal with your friends, employees, classmates when they do things that you don’t agree with?

The post “I Don’t Like My Christmas Present” first appeared on Joe Mangum.

If everything that Christmas is based on is about giving, why do we also RECEIVE so much during this time as well? The other day one of my friends asked if he could borrow my truck to haul a couch. I said that’s fine and he came by to pick up the keys. I told him to leave the truck in the driveway when he got finished and to place the key under the doormat.

When I woke up in the morning, I was happy to see my truck parked in the driveway just as it had been the day before. I was more than happy just to find that nothing bad had happened. However, I wasn’t done receiving yet. When I got in my truck to go to work, I turned it on and noticed the fuel needle was all the way to the top… past the full line, more than was in it before it left the drive way the day before.

The point here is that giving is a principle. Though it may seem like an oxymoron, to give means that soon you will receive. It ALWAYS works this way. In business, in families, in relationships, in life, to give is to receive. The best part about giving and not expecting the return, however, is the always pleasant surprise… like Christmas morning.

The post Giving NOT to Receive… and Receiving first appeared on Joe Mangum.

You may feel like, as the leader of an organization or business, that it is your duty to be hard nosed and demanding at all costs. However, it is also your duty to praise. It is your duty because without it, your business will not be around very long.

A man without praise is like a chain without oil. Eventually, it will get worn out and dry. If you let it go too long, it takes more and more effort to turn the wheel with the rusty chain and in the end it will break leaving you stranded and looking for a new way to propel your vehicle.

Everyone deserves praise whether they are the highest producing asset of your company or the $10/hr receptionist. By finding things to praise others about, they are more receptive to teaching and reproving at times. They will take your advice to heart and do the best they can to change because they know you respect and recognize all the good things that they do.

The post Praise is the Fuel of Any Business first appeared on Joe Mangum.